Kirk, at the age of 4 years and 6 months, just a few months before entering treatment at UCLA's Feminine Boy Project (Photo courtesy of the Murphy family)

I was just notified that I have been honored with the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) Award for Excellence in Online Journalism for last summer’s “What Are Little Boys Made Of?” That investigation told the story of four-year-old Kirk Andrew Murphy, who was treated for “pre-homosexuality” at UCLA by George Rekers in 1970. It affected the rest of his life. He committed suicide in 2003.

Anderson Cooper and his team were also honored for “Sissy Boy Experiments,” a three-part series which also covered Kirk’s story. Congrats to the entire CNN team. Sadly, much of the team has been laid off when CNN cut its investigative journalism bureau.

Also congratulations to Chris Geidner (a former Buckeye!) for winning the Sarah Petit LGBT Journalist of the Year Award. No one does legal reporting better. No one even comes close. Also congratulations to Steven Thrasher for winning 2012 NLGJA Journalist of the Year.

2012 NLGJA Excellence in Journalism Awards Announced

Washington, D.C.– Today the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA) announces the recipients of its Excellence in Journalism Awards.

The recipient of this year’s Journalist of the Year is Steven W. Thrasher of the Village Voice, New York Times, and Out. The recipient of this year’s Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Media goes to Chris Geidner, formerly of MetroWeekly.

NLGJA’s Excellence in Journalism Awards were established in 1993 to foster, recognize and reward excellence in journalism on issues related to the LGBT community. In addition to Journalist of the Year and the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Media, awards will be presented for excellence in news writing, feature writing, opinion writing, local television, network television, radio, online, HIV/AIDS and student journalism.

The 2012 Journalist of the Year is Steven W. Thrasher, a staff writer for the Village Voice and writer for the New York Times and Out. Whether it is about multigenerational gay families, a homeless shelter for LGBT youth, or a controversial political dynasty involved in New York’s same-sex marriage battles, Thrasher’s work succeeds at being interesting and unexpected. A keen interviewer and beautiful writer, his willingness to move beyond the usual in covering LGBT lives hit its peak this year.

This year’s Sarah Pettit LGBT Journalist of the Year Award goes to Chris Geidner, former political editor at Metro Weekly, starting July 16 as senior political reporter at BuzzFeed. Geidner was the go-to voice for important news stories in Washington, D.C., covering the White House, Supreme Court, and Justice Department. His sober and intelligent writing thoroughly explains some of the most important political stories of the year, quickly becoming one of the attributed LGBT journalists online and in the mainstream press.

“It was another outstanding year for quality journalism reporting on LGBT issues and lives. The 30th Anniversary of the beginning of the AIDS crisis brought outstanding work from KQED and CNN, while Cary Aspirnwall’s story of a transgender teen in the Tulsa World shined a light on transgender lives in an unusual place. Judges were especially impressed with the work of Jim Burroway of Box Turtle Bulletin, who took citizen journalism to a new level with his coverage of Geoege Reker’s experiment in uncovering what makes little boys gay and its impact on one particular man,” says David Steinberg , NLGJA’s National Board President. “NLGJA’s excellence in journalism awards recognize a variety of media and journalists who exemplify NLGJA’s commitment to fair and accurate coverage of LGBT issues.”

NLGJA Journalist of the Year
Winner: Steven W. Thrasher – Village Voice, New York Times, Out

I’m not surprised by the award, Jim. You thoroughly deserved it. Your series was so illuminating and moving that I was compelled to read each installment in its entirety, and then go back to reread certain parts. I don’t often do that (I usually skim through articles, especially longer ones, not only here at BTB, but everywhere).

Congratulations for this well deserved award. Jim’s and BTB’s reporting and coverage of this issue was impeccable. We are all devoted to you for exposing this tragedy and teasing out the ramification of the sissy-boy treatments. Your work shows concretely the power and potential of the gay blogosphere.

In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.

When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.

In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.

From the Inside: Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out”

On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.

Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!

Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.

Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.

Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.

The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.